Diary of a food-loving Central New Yorker

07/27/2012

DIY ice cream (frozen yogurt and sorbet)

Every kitchen has gadgets and gizmos bought, barely used and taking up real estate on shelves and in cupboards. You know: the rice cooker, salmon poacher, mango pitter, cordless cookie press…

I’m not about to let that fate befall my compact electric ice cream maker. No way. Not a chance.

On impulse last summer (the Internet is a dangerous shopping place!), I bought a Cuisinart 1.5 quart frozen ice cream, yogurt and sorbet maker for the unbelievable low price of $44.95. It was later in the summer, and I didn’t experiment with it much: a batch of frozen Greek yogurt with mini chocolate chips; a trial run of strawberry sorbet most memorable for seeping out of the machine and all over the kitchen counter.

This summer, I’m giving the machine a good workout. So far, it has produced an outstanding five-ingredient, pleasingly pink Strawberry Ice Cream and David Leibovitz’ divine (and so simple!) Chocolate Sorbet.

Some of you have asked: Why go to the trouble of making homemade ice cream when you can buy good ice cream?

We are not going to put Gannon’s Isle out of business, that’s for sure, but making frozen desserts at home is fun! I keep the freezer bowl in the basement chest freezer, wrapped in two layers of plastic grocery bags, so it’s ready to roll when the mood strikes.

Plus, it doesn’t seem like work at all when you make the ice cream (or yogurt or sorbet) in stages. I find that ice cream or sorbet freezes best when the ingredients going into the freezer bowl are REALLY, REALLY cold. So I make it the morning or night before I’m going to process the ice cream.

The only downside to the ice cream maker is the noise it makes. It sounds like an electric can opener, as it whirs for 20 to 25 minutes, mixing up frozen treats.

That’s an annoyance we can put up with.

5-Ingredient Strawberry Ice Cream

You will need:

2 cups heavy cream

1 cup whole milk

1 vanilla bean

2/3 cups sugar

1 pound strawberries

Directions: Wash and hull strawberries, removing green caps. Slice strawberries. Puree half of the sliced berries in a blender and set aside. Combine cream, milk, and sugar in a saucepan then add vanilla bean. Heat until sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and pour into a large bowl. Fish out vanilla bean. Slice it open using a sharp knife and scrape the insides into bowl. Add strawberry puree and mix well. Cover with plastic wrap and chill in refrigerator until cool – or overnight.

While custard chills, dice reserved berries to mix into ice cream.

Freeze custard in ice cream maker following manufacturer’s instructions. When ice cream is done, mix in diced berries. Spoon ice cream into an air-tight container. Remove to freezer for two hours or more.

I'm not a gadget person, but I succumbed to this one. (Williams Sonoma also is a dangerous place.) You've inspired me to get it back in action ... I've been a little slow this year. Going to check out that chocolate sorbet recipe...